Jade

Chapter 2

I know none of this would have happened if I just walked back inside, but the persistence of these people made it seem like this was my inevitable future.

I had woken up on cold, hard, white linoleum flooring. I was dizzy when I got up and looked around, I remember feeling like the room was going in circles. When the room steadied I noticed that the room was four white walls, a white ceiling, a white floor, white lighting, and a white door. Instead of questioning why was I in this room, I was questioning whether or not these people were racist.

A shiver went up my spine as I walked to the door and tried it. Of course, the door was locked. It's not a true kidnapping without a locked door. Panic started flowing through my body. Where am I, was the mantra that I kept replaying in my head. I had put my ear on the door hoping to hear something. At first, I didn't hear anything, but then it had started to sound like footsteps were coming my way.

Not knowing what else to do, I quickly laid back down where I woke up and closed my eyes. It felt like hours before a person walked into the room, even though I knew it was probably less time. I was scared. I was trying to breathe evenly, so I didn't sense when the person was next to me. At the time I didn't know who he was, but he gently wrapped his hands around me and then picked me up like a princess in distress.

One: I'm not a princess.
Two: I'm not distressed (okay maybe I was).

"Umm can you put me down?" I asked him.

"Oh...You're awake," He exclaimed.

That's when I opened my eyes and saw him for the first time. I had opened my eyes to his fierce emerald green eyes and I couldn't help, but stare. It was as if there was a storm at bay in his eyes. I managed to move my gaze away from his eyes and to the rest of his face, the face of a boy carved out of a statue. So perfectly symmetrical and yet it was as if his innocence was gone. The bright lighting of the room made his olive skin look like it was glistening. Not sure whether he felt embarrassed or not, he had flicked his head, moving his short black curly hair away from his eyes.

Feeling stupid for staring for so long I had looked down, only to realize that he was still carrying me.

"You know it's weird that you're still holding me," I told him.

He nodded his head and put me down as if it were normal for him to hold me like a baby.

"What's your name," I asked him.

"Jake," He answered.

"Where's your khakis Jake," I joked.

"I guess I lost them," He chuckled.

I smiled and looked around again. That's when the second round of panic set in as I realized that I managed to forget where I was.

"Where am I? What do you want from me? Why am I here? Are you going to hurt me? Am I ever going back home? Wait how old are you?" The questions raced out of my mouth searching for answers.

"Whoa. Whoa. Calm down," Jake answered.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN!" I started. "You want me to calm down after being kidnapped, brought to this room, and now talking to a stranger who thinks it's okay to pick me up as if that were a normal daily thing to do. How am I supposed to calm down? Like really-"

"Ok. Ok," He cut me off. "I'm sorry."

"Listen, Jake, I don't want to die, so if you can just answer me please, maybe I'll calm down."

"Ok fine. I'm seventeen. You're at the secret agency. You know the whole movie type stuff, it's all real. I personally don't want anything from you, but the boss wants to talk to you. I'm not going to hurt you and you'll most likely never go back home-"

I watched as his mouth continued to move, but all that I was processing was "you'll most likely never go back home."

"What would happen if I go back home?" I asked not sure whether I interrupted him.

"Like I said the boss will answer the rest of your questions."

When did he say that?

He spun on his heels and started walking out the door. I think he expected me to follow him, but I just stood in place like an idiot. It had taken him a minute to realize that I wasn't behind him. He eventually came back and started pulling me out with him. With his hand tightly grasping my arm, he led me up some stairs and to a room on the right, with Boss spelled out in block letters (seemed like a stupid cliche to put on a door, but I can't really do anything about it). Jake knocked on the door and a deep raspy voice told him to come in. Still pulling me by the arm, Jake led me inside and wouldn't let go of my arm.

"Sit," The owner of the deep raspy voice had said.

I was never one to respect a stranger who tried to boss me around, so I didn't sit down. Instead, I looked around the room with its pale yellow walls that looked like it belonged in a nursery, a small mahogany desk surrounded by two chairs on one side and a lonely chair opposite those. The nameplate on the desk read Lincoln Marshall Cologne.

"Did your parents ever teach you how to listen?" Lincoln asked, noticing that I wasn't listening to him.

Those little words caused a snap in me and I couldn't hold my tongue, "Was it your parents that taught you how to kidnap people? Was it them who taught you this?" I pointed in a circle. "Come on I've seen this movie and it never ends well. You take teens from the streets to come do your dirty work. Can't you do it yourself? This so-called 'secret agency' is just a bunch of trained teenagers doing missions that put their lives at risk for you. It's their one-way ticket to hell. It's like they are defying the world order by staring death in the eye and not actually dying. That isn't right. Oh and I bet that if I refuse to join, you'll kill me 'because no one is supposed to know about the secret agency unless you are in it'". With a challenging glare, I looked him in the eye. "Do you think I'm stupid? Because I'm not... Well not completely," I finished.

That whole speech and he didn't even bat an eye.

"Smart," He said slowly. "You are smart, but I always get-"

"Oh please don't say you always get what you want. That's a typical thing to say as a movie villain. Wait am I in a movie?"

"I do always get what I want," He said it anyway.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. He had one job. "Just tell me what you actually want old man," I asked as if I didn't already know the answer.

"I want you to work as an assassin for this agency," He answered.

Turns out I did not know the answer after all. I thought we were taking people down and into custody.

"I'm not going to do that," I told him with confidence. "Who am I to decide who lives or who dies?"

"Hard to get, I see. I'll give you twenty-four hours to think about it." He then turned to Jake, "Jake take her to the room." And with that, the conversation was over.